You are here: Home / Archives for music

Youthtube Trends: Capturing “Youtube” Moments

May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Jennifer Serravello, teacher and staff developer, created the Independent Reading Assessment to determine whether students are truly comprehending what they read during SSR (Silent Sustained Reading.) This video is trending #6 among all 13-17 year olds and #4 among 13-17 year old girls, with 241,372 views. While more assessments would be helpful in gauging students’ level of reading comprehension, the video leaves us with so many questions. For example, what exactly does this assessment consist of? It is supposedly built on three principles: Assess, Evaluate, and Teach. These, however, are rather vague and unhelpful in understanding what the methods of assessment will be. Furthermore, what kinds of solutions can we implement to help students bolster their reading comprehension skills? Perhaps this is too much to cover in a 1:46 video, but this video felt more like a teaser and not really an overview.

Today’s lesson is to make sure to have your camera on you at all times in case you witness odd incidents. Currently the #1 trending video among 13-17 year olds, especially boys, features a swanky yellow Lamborghini swerving to the left and crashing in between cars. It was sandwiched between two other cars. One can hear the creators of the video saying, “This is going to be on Youtube.” Now, photos are sometimes inadequate to capture the full experience–we need an entire visual capture of what we really happened. We are just so eager to share funny moments not only with our closest friends and family members but also with the online community; humor and upscale cars are universal sources of entertainment.

While I always thought this song was a hit with teenybopper girls, apparently it’s catchy enough for the guys as well. The Harvard Baseball team lip-synced and danced in perfect unison to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” It has accumulated 7,005,369 hits, #1 among the girls and #3 among the 13-17 year old population.

Trending #2 is the Bungee Jump Prank with 1,106,544 views. A group of friends brought a future bridegroom blindfolded and told him that he would jump from 50 feet above water. Of course, that 50 feet turned out to be only 3 feet. Ten years, who would have thought that funny bachelor party moments would be disseminated across the web?

Adding to the outrageous week is a clip of a 40 pound barracuda jumping into a fishing boat. While filming for the fishing show, “Tails From the Outdoors Show,” the crew caught a silver barracuda that flopped around the boat. This video has been watched 1,579,312 times.

Lastly, I would highly recommend this 18-year-old’s acoustic cover of LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It. He brings a intense, soulful, and bluesy tone absent from the loud and goofy original. With 55,602,794 views, it’s trending #7 among all 13-17 year olds and the girls.

Filed Under: YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , ,

Boys and Girls Agree On YouthTube Trends

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For once, trends among 13-17 year old boys and girls perfectly align with one another. This challenges the gendered notion that boys are more likely to watch clips featuring sports and video games, and that girls are more likely to tune into music. It turns out that YouthTube trends can unify this heterogeneous and diverse group even across gender, a usually divisive factor.

It’s incredible that 5,112,550 people watched a 20 second teaser for Justin Bieber’s music video for “Boyfriend.” And may I say this? 20 seconds was embarrassing enough, as it blatantly shows Bieber asserting his “maturity” and sex appeal. Shot against a completely dark background, it features women’s hands (disconnected from the rest of their bodies) caressing and touching Bieber. We often see this sensual and erotic exchange in some mainstream rap music videos, which objectify women and illustrate the male singer as attractive, desirable, and thus powerful. I found this a little disappointing, as perhaps this is the platform that most adult male singers follow in order to garner recognition and popularity. Bieber, in an attempt to transcend his boy-next-door image, turns out to be no exception. Unfortunately, this representation of masculinity, which thrives on female submission, pervades all dimensions of mass media. Currently, it’s trending #5 among all 13-17 year olds, both males and females. The group to (finally) overtake Bieber was #1, Palaye Royale’s “Morning Light,” with 19,641,032 views.

Perhaps it’s partly due to Linsanity, but this clip of an awesome dunk at a high school basketball game is trending #2 among both 13-17 year old males and females. It’s incredible that a game that happened in a high school in Iowa is being celebrated across the nation.

Following up with the trend, S*** (insert group name) say, “S*** Corporate Chamchas Say At Work” is trending #3. A “chamcha,” which has Hindi origins, is a sycophant or in more colloquial terms, a serious a** kisser. This video features an overeager employee who recites numerous platitudes about hard work and showers his employee with gifts and excessive compliments. I thought, however, this clip could be perceived as offensive, as it heavily stereotypes Indian men as ludicrous social climbers with heavy accents. It inadvertently discounts the notion that sycophants exist among people of different races, genders and classes.

Youtube released a humorous promo of “the YouTube Collection,” which consists of DVDs of past popular clips. Are you supposed to believe them or not? (HUGE HINT: Check when it was uploaded!) With 2,574,061 views, this video is trending #10 among all 13-17 year olds.

In the past, morphing videos were pretty popular. Some of the famous ones that come to mind are the videos of famous actors and actresses transforming over time. This video compiles all the different images of Lindsay Lohan to show how her looks have declined over time, due to her substance and alcohol abuse. With eerie music in the background, this video seeks to show the downfall of a former child star. While people can technically create and upload anything they make on YouTube, this clip seemed unnecessarily exploitative and cruel. If anything, this kind of attention does not help these troubled stars recover at all. This serves purely as entertainment for viewers, illustrating the immense pressures and scrutinization that celebrity face in the limelight. With 2,802,301 views, this video is trending #7 among all 13-17 year olds. In fact, this video is such a viral hit that it’s been featured through an article on the Yahoo front page.

Filed Under: YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , , ,

YouthTube Trends: What a Star Studded Week!

March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Since yesterday, three to four out of the top ten videos among 13-17 year olds directly pertain to Justin Bieber’s newest single, “Boyfriend,” released on March 26. These include a 15-second preview, a teaser (#3 yesterday among 13-17 year olds), a behind the scenes video (currently #6 among 13-17 year olds), and an audio clip (currently #1 among all 13-17 year olds, both male and female) against an album jacket cover. The audio clip has already accumulated 2,044,651 views in just two days. Their marketing strategy of releasing different kinds of previews has successfully captivated the teen demographic, particularly the girls. His newest single deviates from the bubblegum pop days of “One Less Lonely Girl,” “One Time,” and even his most recent hit, “Mistletoe,” integrating a steady hip-hop beat, rap, singing and acoustic guitar.

Both the teaser and behind the scenes portray Bieber as a mature musician who actively participates in producing his own work. His voice has stabilized significantly since his voice change. In some ways, he sounds a lot like a young Justin Timberlake. Through these promotional clips, Bieber and his publicists seek to demonstrate that he has considerable range and isn’t just a good-looking teen idol–he’s here to make music for the long run.

After initially receiving acclaim for his talents on YouTube, Bieber enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame and stardom. His PR people are ingeniously engaging his YouTube fanbase in this Youtube campaign to generate buzz and support for his newest album.  As you can see, it’s working!

Other users have piggybacked on Bieber’s immense popularity and fanbase to promote their own videos. Litombe & Tex embedded a link to their rap song, Crew Love Remix, in the audio clip mentioned above. One of the top comments for the “Crew Love Remix” states, “Thumbs up if Justin Bieber–Boyfriend brought you here.”

While the video previously enjoyed a gradual increase in viewership, it enjoyed exponential exposure starting yesterday night, according to the statistics for the video. This intertextuality makes some sense, as this referral introduces a more adult strain of hip-hop to Bieber’s young fanbase.

After receiving significant support from her pop star friends Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, Carly Rae Jepsen is receiving a lot of buzz and interest from the teen population. Her official music video and performance on the Ellen Show were two of the top 10 most popular videos among 13-17 year olds two days ago. Jepsen’s increased popularity demonstrates the enormous influence that Bieber and Selena Gomez wield over youth’s choice in music. YouTube has become the site of germinating new trends that often overtake mainstream platforms like the Ellen Degeneres Show. Call Me Maybe currently ranks as the seventh most viewed video among all 13-17 year olds and #6 trending video among females.

Out of all these top 10 videos, Katy Perry’s video has the most views – over 17 million. At times, her music videos are often so melodramatic and over-the-top that it’s hard to take them seriously. This time, she plays the part of a spurned woman who joins the army in order to affirm her strength. Although this music video was intended to be empowering, I found it slightly problematic and embarrassing because it implicitly associates overcoming a breakup with military service. It is currently the #6 trending video among 13-17 year olds.

Nigahiga’s released a humorous musical video titled Bromance, in which Ryan Higa and his crew teach their stuffy, homophobic friend that close heterosexual relationships can flourish among guys. This campy and over-the-top video features strong vocals from singer-songwriter Chester See and Higa’s priceless rap performance. The song playfully satirizes the homoerotic connotations associated with one of the most memorable concepts of this decade. With his witty and humorous parodies and blogs on societal fads, Higa has become one of the most subscribed creators on YouTube with 5,181,966 subscribers. This video has accumulated 4,583,838 views, and was the #1 trending video among 13-17 year olds before Bieber’s Boyfriend came along. It is now the #8 trending video among 13-17 year olds.

Although the Super Bowl season has already passed, viewers like nothing more than to laugh at quirky commercials. Liar, Liar promotes Skittles. A boy must endure skittles popping out of his ears whenever he lies. Taking advantage of this fact, his friends and even his mom force him to tell lies. With 432,233 views, it’s the #3 trending video among 13-17 year old boys and girls.

Aside from the mainstream and YouTube stars, the story of a beautiful rescue has touched the hearts of many viewers. A generous woman rescued a blind dog who was living in a trash pile. After helping to overcome its flea infestation, she took the dog to a veterinarian, who performed the necessary surgical procedure to help the dog see once again. This beautiful story also serves as a promotional video Hope for Paws, a non-profit animal rescue organization. With 389,589 views, it was the #5 trending video among 13-17 year old males and females yesterday evening.

Filed Under: YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Changing Notions of What’s Personal

March 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

As people are increasingly sharing their accomplishments with an extended cyber community, users are intensely analyzing what they consume and even questioning its validity and credibility. After eight months of endless hard work, research, and testing, Jarno Smeets, a mechanical engineer from the Netherlands, purportedly flew one hundred meters with his self-built wings. In his triumphant video, he showcases what appears to be his flight and his emotional reflection. Thanks to the extensive reach of social media, over a million people have seen this video in less than three days. However, many people are openly disputing and questioning the authenticity of his claim by bringing scientific evidence and examining the lower resolution of the video. This controversy elucidates what individuals risk when they publicize their personal achievements–they may face intense and even ruthless criticism, even to the point of delegitimizing and undercutting their self-esteem and the entirety of their achievements. While it was the most viewed clip among 13-17 year olds all of yesterday, it’s currently the tenth most viewed video among 13-17 year olds and the fifth most viewed among males.

Adding to the slew of political satires, Hugh Atkin stitched together footages of Mitt Romney’s numerous speeches and interviews and his political opponents against repetitive background music. Atkin’s video debunks the notion that we can truly understand the true beliefs of political candidates, as they seem make so many contradictory statements. Certain sound-bites, however, have been tastelessly manipulated to portray Romney in a ridiculous and farcical light without giving any sort of meaningful commentary or truly humorous take. Given the enormous amount of content on the web, users have every right to judiciously determine what they see as enlightening, humorous, or tasteless. While no longer in the top ten, it was the second to fourth most viewed video among males and females yesterday. It has accumulated 1,604,387 views.

Film creators are releasing trailers of Summer and Fall movies already, even targeting those who do not regularly go to movie theaters. “Prometheus,” an apocalyptic sci-fi film directed by Ridley Scott, was the most viewed video on Monday across both genders. It will come out on June 8, 2012. Likewise, the trailer for “Breaking Dawn–Part 2,” is topping viewership charts especially among 13-17 year old girls, not surprisingly. While this movie will not come out until November 16, film production companies choose to build momentum for release of high budget films months in advance by posting teaser clips and trailers on YouTube. This video has 1,918,269 views, #2 among all 13-17 year olds and ranked #4 and #3 among males and females, respectively.

Also this week, several clips of talented toddlers captivated teen viewership. One of these videos is a promo for a dance studio, Studie43, and it features an adorable two year old boy who dances the jive in the limelight. While this may seem like a home video at first glance, smaller businesses like Studie43 are apparently studying YouTube trends to positively promote themselves. After all, so many people love cute toddlers or kittens dancing. It’s the fourth most viewed video among all 13-17 year olds and females and the fifth most viewed among males, with 1,824,936 hits.

Another home video starring 2 year-old Makena singing Adele’s “Someone Like You,” has garnered over 5,244,324 views. It is currently the third most viewed video among all 13-17 year olds and the second most viewed among females of that age group. Indeed, pop culture shapes kids as young as age two, and this explains why it’s important to have positive strains of pop culture to empower youth, even the youngest of the bunch. In response to this video, many other parents have posted clips of their children singing Adele. While this may be a way for parents to showcase their utmost pride for their talented children, sometimes one cannot help but question whether this is a healthy practice for the children, who have little say in what parts of their earlier life to publicize. Ten years from now, what will children think of the idea that their personal home videos are available on YouTube? Will they feel somewhat violated, or will this have become such a traditional practice with the rise of social media, particularly YouTube, that they won’t mind? Furthermore, all the statistics and comments that come with it just further complicate matters. While most of the comments are very positive and over 27,000 people liked Makena’s video, 754 people have officially disliked it. That’s not even counting the harsh comments below, which say, “can’t sing!” or “I wouldn’t call this singing–just half-mumbling the words.”

Whether one likes it or not, YouTube is just changing so many notions of what to publicize and what to keep personal.

Filed Under: Stories, YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , , ,

Youth Standing Up for Their Future at Earth Summit

March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As Earth Day 2012 approaches, it is important to shine a light on young heroes who spread the word about issues that affect all of us and our Mother Earth. Case in point, Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s 1992 speech at the United Nations Earth Summit conference in Rio de Janerio is not only inspirational and but highly relevant to our present day ecological circumstances.

In 1988, Severn founded the Environmental Children’s Organization, a group of 12-13 year olds promoting environmental sustainability and preservation. In 1992, at age 12, Cullis-Suzuki raised money with members of ECO to attend and participate in the Earth Summit conference 5,000 miles away from their home in Vancouver, Canada. Speaking from the conference floor, Severn was applauded by conference delegates for speaking about the adverse effects of pollution, deforestation, global poverty, growing socioeconomic disparities, and the mass extinction of animal and plants species.

Subsequently posted to YouTube on April 18, 2008, The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 minutes became a viral hit, accumulating over 16 million views. Numerous YouTubers remixed the video, incorporating music and photo montages to complement Severn’s points. While very few people knew about Severn’s speech until recently, this video now serves to inspire and inform youth twenty years after the fact.

In one of the more powerful moments, Severn talks about not being able to go fishing with father because the fish contain cancer and toxins. Drawing upon her encounters with street children in Rio, she addresses the growing socioeconomic gap between the rich and poor. Her speech denounces the UN’s inaction and counterproductive actions that further undercut environmental sustainability: “If you don’t know how to fix it, please, stop breaking it.” She notes that we do not hold those that strip the environment of its nutrients accountable, and that man-made disasters such as large oil spills occur every day, killing animals and polluting the water. Framing the issue as preserving the environment for the next generation of children, Severn reminds us about the far-reaching consequences of our actions and inaction.

An Emerging Environmental Hero

Now, twenty years later, young environmental activists are continuing where Severn’s speech left off. Ta’Kaiya Blaney, 10, is a singer-songwriter, actress, speaker and activist. She co-wrote and sang “Shallow Waters”, a song about the dangers of oil spills to marine and coastal life in an effort to stop a proposed oil pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands to the British Columbia coast. The song was a semi-finalist in the 2010 David Suzuki Songwriting Contest, Playlist for the Planet, which was named after Severn’s father.

Like Severn, Ta’Kaiya draws upon personal observations and experience to illustrate how life forms are disappearing before our eyes. The Shallow Waters music video showcases her immense talent and deep personal connection with nature. Ta’Kaiya speaks at workshops and universities across Canada to inspire youth to proactively campaign for environmental and social justice. As one of the twenty “We Canada” Champions, she will be speaking at the UN Earth Summit 2012 in Rio De Janiero from June 20-22.

Ta’kaiya also appears on the forthcoming Pacha’s Pajamas album along with the Agape Youth Choir and six other socially conscious youth. It’s amazing to see socially conscious youth collaborating to raise awareness and inspire action on behalf of their and future generations.

Send Ta’Kaiya to Earth Summit 2012

Ta’Kaiya is raising funds for her trip to Earth Summit 2012 in Rio De Janiero. As a media child reporter, she hopes to interview leaders and representatives around the world while representing indigenous organizations. She will also sing and speak at forums. We at BALANCE Films are supporting her efforts to raise funds.  If you know of any foundations, organizations or individuals who may be interested in sponsoring Ta’Kaiya’s trip to Earth Summit 2012, please contact info@takaiyablaney.com.

You can also make a donation.

 
Filed Under: Edutainment, Events, Transformational Entertainment, YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Social Media Transforms Parent-Child and Star-Fan Relationships

February 22, 2012 By

Feeling Linspired

Lately, Jeremy Lin’s meteoric rise to stardom has emerged as one of the hottest topics. Even David Letterman and the Saturday Night Live Cast have acknowledged the Linsanity that has overtaken so many people, including those who don’t normally follow NBA basketball. Adding to the list of interesting Jeremy Lin puns is “Superior Lintellect,” a video on YouTube with nearly 450,000 views that gives play-by-play commentary on Lin’s skillfully calculated moves. In an affected Asian accent (which could be perceived as off-putting), the creator illustrates how Lin adroitly devises the most exact and astute moves to challenge veteran players that are older and taller than him. Using Paint, he scribbles fake mathematical formulas to mirror Lin’s thought process. While this may seem racist, this clip intends to playfully satirize the stereotype that Asians excel in math. Lin’s success debunks the notion that we need to choose between sports and academics–they can inform and support one another. It’s a tribute to Lin for playing “smart” basketball.

Indeed, Lin has emerged as one of the top point guards after leading the Knicks in a seven-game winning streak. On February 4, after sitting on the bench the entire season, Lin was given a chance to lead and scored 25 points to secure a victory over the New Jersey Nets. In his first five starts, he racked up more points than any other player during their first starts since the NBA-ABA merger.

To many people, he embodies great athleticism, an excellent work ethic, intellect, and even the American Dream. An incredibly humble and low-key individual, he opened up about how he was sleeping on his brother’s couch just two weeks ago. Although he played very well at Harvard, he was not initially picked up by any NBA teams. He was also cut by two clubs before getting signed by the Knicks. Despite these setbacks, he continuously pursued his goal of playing professional basketball.

He is changing stereotypes, as his success refutes the idea that NBA and many contact sports in general are out of reach for Asians and Asian Americans. He explained, “There are stereotypes, obviously. There are a lot of them. The more we can do to break those down every day, the better we become. Hopefully, in the near future, we’ll see a lot more Asians and Asian-Americans in basketball and the NBA.” Such a positive attitude, perseverance, and social awareness render Lin as a transnational role model.

The Private Becomes Shockingly Public

In this eight-minute video, Tommy Jordan, an angry father, berates and punishes his daughter for writing a disrespectful letter about her parents on Facebook. This video has gotten 28,451,993 views since February 8. It brings up a lot of concerns, such as social media hindering communication between parents and children. As Facebook is a largely free platform for people to post their quips, opinions, and frustrations, it gives both adults and children the choice to publicize their private concerns and life. His anger and frustration culminates in shooting multiple bullets into her laptop. Jordan seems to utilize the logic of retributive justice, as he claims that he will post this video on her Facebook wall so that she can have a taste of her own medicine. Jordan’s administration of “tough love” has not only divided viewers nationwide but invited visits from the police and child protection agencies. However, the fact still remains that many people do praise his intent to discipline his child, especially in support of moderate and respectful use of social networking. It opens up a whole can of worms, asking us to consider how Facebook is influencing not only those of kids but parents’ ideas about how to communicate with their children. This entire situation arises from bringing such intensely personal family matters into the public sphere. The question still stands: does Facebook encourage us to be excessively open about our personal lives?

Stars Create and Promote Their Own Videos

Carlos Pena, Jr. of Nickelodeon’s “Big Time Rush” uploaded a goofy, fun music video with his high profile friends, including Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, and Ashley Tisdale, rocking out to Carly Rae Jepsen’s song, “Call Me Maybe.” This song hit Canadian Hit 100 on February 11, 2012, and will most likely garner mainstream success in the U.S. After premiering on February 18, 2012, Pena’s video has already accumulated nearly 4 million hits. Gomez had previously tweeted about this song as a tribute to her boyfriend, Bieber. Pena utilized his impressive social network and the extensive audience of YouTube to support his friend’s lead single. YouTube offers such an interconnected environment in which we can properly use our social network to publicize issues, music, and news that we care about. It’s awesome to see teen celebrities banding together in support of their friend. Speaking of stars showcasing their work on YouTube, actor James Franco also debuted an advertisement for 7 For All Mankind, a denim company. The advertisement, titled Episode 1, features model Lily Donaldson as the life of the party. We are not sure if this is going to be part of a webisode series, but we’ll definitely stay tuned.

Filed Under: News, Transformational Entertainment, YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , , ,

Commercials, Webisodes, and of course, Music Galore

February 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

YouTube is undoubtedly becoming the most popular place for companies to target youth and promote their deals. After all, teenagers do tend to surf the Internet far more than watch TV. This may help explain why five out of the ten most popular clips among 13-17 year olds contain URLs to external links in their description. Essentially, these companies use YouTube as to entice youth with their newest products.

Automobile Firms Go All Out

In the lead up to the 2012 Super Bowl, YouTube audiences have been captivated by commercials and show clips. This week, commercials made up 30 percent of the most viewed videos among teens under age 18. Large car companies hit YouTube’s large youth audience with commercials that appeal to the teenage passion for fancy wheels. Most of these commercials run for at least one and a half minutes, which is way too long for the tube but somehow appropriate for the Internet. Each features some sort of narrative, most often with an overly self-assured male celebrity.

Here’s a somewhat unfunny commercial from Acura featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld. In the commercial, Seinfeld yearns for the new Acura NSX model that and he will stop at nothing to acquire the very first one. Seinfeld finds himself second on the list for the first car, so he stalks and trys to bribe the first person, an Average Joe, on the list. Will this far-fetched narrative of Seinfeld relentlessly pursuing to get the first Acura NSX incite an unquenchable sense of desire within consumers? That is what Acura is hoping.

In this Honda commercial, actor Matthew Broderick parodies himself as an overgrown Ferris Bueller, one of his most beloved roles. He pretends to be sick in order to get out of filming and takes to joyriding in his Honda CR-V. This commercial will certainly appeal to older fans who grew up with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. We imagine it appeals to current youth who wish they could cleverly shirk their responsibilities like Ferris.

But our personal favorite has to be this Audi commercial, which doesn’t even rely on star power.

Rather it relies on two of the most popular motifs among teenagers – vampires and fancy-pants cars. As the Audi travels into a forest fraught with vampires, its headlights vaporize the nocturnal creatures. Basically, the commercial is designed to showcase the power and sexiness of the Audi. The special effects alone caught us off guard. Plus, it’s short and sweet. Some of the other companies would do well to remember that our attention spans are even shorter while surfing the web than watching TV (since we can hit the close button any time we want).

Webisodes Rule!

This week, webisodes have proliferated these last couple of weeks. Dating Rules From My Future Self has been extremely popular amongst 13-17 year old girls. If you scroll down to see the ten most viewed videos among girls, chances are at least one or two of them will be an episode of “Dating Rules From My Future Self.” The plot-line embraces interests dear to many teenage girls’ hearts – smart-phones, romance and best girlfriends.

“Dating Rules From My Future Self” is the story about a twenty-something struggling with questions regarding love and romance. Thankfully, she gets plenty of help from her two best friends as well as texts from her future self. Lucy Lambert (Shiri Appleby) works at a company that specializes in making apps for smart-phones. The clips themselves are HD (high definition) and less than nine minutes. The plot is focalized through Lucy’s point of view and kept simple.

Overall, “Dating Rules” is a nice alternative to longer dramatic shows like “Gossip Girl”– it’s light, clean, often sweet, and doesn’t take up very much of one’s time. It’s marketed towards adolescents and young women. This week, nearly 38 percent of the most popular videos among 13-17 year old girls were part of webisodic series or movie clip.

And if you miss an episode of a favorite show, it’s very likely that someone has already uploaded it to YouTube. YouTube offers a great venue for catching up on the most memorable moments, especially for teens that don’t have cable or any time to watch daytime television. For example, the most viewed video among 13-17 year olds is an Ellen clip of Kristen Bell’s “sloth meltdown.”

While we frankly were underwhelmed by this video, its popularity reflects young people’s heavy interest in pop culture and the lives of celebrities. If we could transform their enormous interest in pop culture and celebrities into real world action, that would be amazing.

Music: A National Language

Regardless of how old we are or where we come from, good music tends to bring a smile to our face. A newly popular video features budding acoustic pop rock group – The Interstate Life – serenading a drive-in employee at Sonic. The video description says “I’m kinda strange and like to do random stuff to make people smile! Mission accomplished.” It’s evident that music can spread joy and happiness, even bringing together strangers from differing backgrounds. Such random acts of kindness definitely help make life worth appreciating and celebrating. Because we often delineate boundaries between those we know and don’t know, we often overlook the interests we do share such as music. As demonstrated by the past 100 years of Social Movements such as Civil Rights, Anti-Apartheid and Arab Spring, music is one of the most powerful vehicles for communication, unity and change.

Currently, the fourth most popular video for 13-17 year olds features a talented subway performer covering Adele’s “Someone Like You.” For the first minute, we weren’t sure why this video merited much attention, but we became impressed when he supplemented his powerful vocals with his performance of the drum. At the end of the video, the audience applauds, and he remarks, “Don’t give up! This song is about nothing but love. Have a good day!” That’s the beautiful thing about music – it’s a universal human expression that can awaken, inspire and unite people across boundaries.

Filed Under: Edutainment, YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , ,

Melia to Selena: Get with Pacha’s Pajamas

January 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

(Jan 21, 2011 Selenation) Following the advice of our spokesperson Melia, Balance Edutainment has launched a campaign to recruit singer, actress and philanthropist Selena Gomez to participate in Pacha’s Pajamas.  Pacha is a little girl who becomes a Superhero for Nature through her dreams.  We want Selena to be a voice on the album and the edutainment app, Nature Superhero.

We are reaching out to @SelenaGomez and her fans on Twitter. Please follow @RecruitSelena to join our campaign. After just 24 hours, we have over 200 followers. (A shout out to all our followers – thank you so much for your support!)

Melia’s Brainchild

It all started eight days ago when Melia asked her papa to video tape her.  Papa had no idea what she was going to say.  Below is what came out.

Pacha’s Pajamas is the story of young person who discovers her voice and uses it for good. The story teaches young people that they can become superheroes in their communities. We need more superheroes.

At a time when animals and plants are going extinct at the fastest rate in 65 million years, Pacha’s story also teaches kids about our interdependence with nature, cooperation and collective liberation.  We see Pacha’s Pajamas inspiring millions of children to take a stand for issues they feel passionate about. (Our Kidstarter initiative will support youth in building an audience and crowdfunding selected projects.)

Who’s Already Onboard?

High profile conscious artists such as Mos Def and Talib Kweli are bringing their vocal and musical talents to our musical EP, forthcoming album and app. Our music also features talented child musicians and emcees from our nationwide auditions.

Why Selena?

As the youngest UNICEF ambassador, Selena has consistently demonstrated her commitment to furthering the education, development and leadership of youth throughout the world. She has given back to local and global communities in need. In 2009, Selena traveled to Ghana to meet children who lack access to clean water, nourishment, education and health care. In 2011, she helped raise funds for clean water and sanitation programs. Just two nights ago, she performed at the 2012 Charity Concert at the House of Blues. She is an inspiration and a wonderful role model for children around the world.

Selena has been a pioneer in employing technology to not only communicate with her fans but also to practice and publicize eco-friendly alternatives. She has championed the use of technology for eco-friendly causes, such as the app, Postcard on the Run, which encourages people to produce and personalize their own postcards on recycled paper. Her fashion line, Dream Out Loud, consists of recycled or eco-friendly materials.

Like Selena’s collaborative single, “Send it On” (Disney’s Friends For Change), Pacha’s Pajamas uses music to reach and inspire young people to take a stand, in this case for the natural world. A portion of the proceeds from Pacha’s Pajamas will go towards the environmental education of youth and protecting the environment.

We envision Selena voicing the part of Hummingbird — a messenger that disseminates healing, joy, and sweetness among different worlds — or if she is really excited about the story, Pacha.

How You Can Help

Please follow @RecruitSelena to join our campaign.  Retweet our tweets and tweet @selenagomez letting her know that you’d love to see her in @PachasPajamas.

If You Know Selena 

Let her know what time it is.

Filed Under: Edutainment, Events, Shoutouts, Transformational Entertainment, YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , , ,

Speak the Speech: The Spoken Word

January 17, 2012 By 5 Comments

Standing in front of a church, Jefferson Bethke utilizes Spoken Word poetry to powerfully critique religion. He opens with a controversial suggestion: “What if I told you that Jesus came to abolish religion?” Drawing upon biblical passages and his personal observations, Bethke seeks to illustrate that organized religion and even Christian individuals do not necessarily follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. The title card flashes “Jesus > Religion.” One might ask, why should we view them on the opposite sides of the spectrum? Bethke argues that “religion is man centered, and Jesus is God-centered.”

First uploaded on January 10, this video has gathered 13,179,175 hits, with 233,818 likes and 32,850 dislikes. This has made it the hottest video among 13-17 year olds. This video is most popular among 13-17 year old girls and 45-54 year old men and women.

Bethke asks a series of intriguing questions that highlight the disparity between Christian vision and reality: “Why does it build huge churches but fail to feed the poor?” Such failures exemplify the self-righteousness and self-justification that have plagued some churches, according to Bethke. Furthermore, the video is just so well produced, featuring Bethke’s passionate recital from various angles, switching between color and black & white, and reinforcing key phrases with impressive, eye-grabbing captions. Female vocalization and string music beautifully complement one another to create a very somber and spiritual aura, mirroring this poem’s confessional and passionate nature.

For example, this blogger also utilizes Spoken Word, even incorporating Bethke’s opening anaphoras of “What if I told you,” to refute the original poet’s contentions. So far, 292,744 people have viewed it.

With over 13 million hits in four days, the video has reached people of all ages and backgrounds. Bethke’s poem has inspired numerous responses of criticism and support. The modes of response have widely varied, ranging from Spoken Word poetry to self-composed songs to video blogging. This one video has inspired at least twelve response videos–clearly, it has fueled an enthusiastic open forum on this topic. While a lot of people expressed opposition to criticizing organized religion, many others praise the powerful message. One woman even stated that Bethke’s poem inspired her to attend church again.

Some of the popular response videos include:
594,214 views I Hate Religion, And Jesus Too – [The blogger critiques the original video line by line.]
136,781 views Re: Why I hate Religion, But Love Jesus II Spoken Word – [She sings a song and speaks in opposition to the original video.]
86,750 views Re: Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus – [This is a video response to the original poem.]
43,921 views Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus || Spoken Word (My Response)- [This is a video response explaining that Christianity is not just a religion but also a relationship with God.]
27,289 views Hallelujah, Hallelujah (Re: Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus, Spoken Word) -[The blogger sings a self-composed song and rap in response to the poem.]
26,732 views In defense of — Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus || Spoken Word
 – [This is a video response that addresses both sides of the debate.]
12,153 views Why I Love Religion, and Jesus. A spoken word response. -[Spoken Word poem attempting to reconcile both religion and Jesus' principles]
11,915 views Reaction to Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus II Spoken Word – [A video response in support of the original poem]
4,675 hits Video response to “why I hate religion, but love Jesus” – [Video response in support of the original poem.]

Combining these two vehicles of expression – spoken word and video-sharing – have created a powerful soapbox, fostering a productive exchange of emotions and ideas. Because Spoken Word poetry enables one to aesthetically convey personal stories and observations, it empowers people of all ages – including youth – to creatively form and express social commentary in a way that has the potential to reach millions.

Filed Under: Edutainment, Stories, YouthTube Trends Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

National EP Launch and Positive Local Story: Pacha’s Pajamas at San Francisco Green Festival 10th Anniversary Celebration

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A special Pacha’s Pajamas reading takes place at the San Fransisco Green Festival 10th Anniversary celebration this Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 2:00 pm. As local Oakland-based group BALANCE Edutainment launches thier promotional music EP nationally with soon-to-be-announced celebrity musical artists and talented youth, co-founders Aaron Ableman and Dave Room connect positive messages through storytime in the San Francisco Green Festival Green Kids’ Zone.

In a recent CNN ireport interview at Los Angeles Green Festival, Ableman is asked, “When kids read this book or have this book read to them, what is your hope that they will get out of it?”

“If children can walk away inspired with a connection to the earth and each other, that would be a victory,” Ableman answers.

Pacha’s Pajamas: A Story Written by Nature, a hip-hop musical story about a little girl named Pacha who saves the environment with the help of the world’s plants and animals, is both a children’s book (www.amazon.com and www.pachaspajamas.com) and an upcoming hip-hop musical album, designed to bring music and storytelling together to share important messages about the environment and inspire positive action.

“If we want to deeply engage youth, perhaps the most important space to occupy is pop culture, as expressed in music. In the last century, music played a pivotal role in many of the world’s most important social movements,” Room states in a recent article in the Washington Times Communities.

“We are at a critical time to manifest real change, but we need to find solutions inclusive of all,” Ableman adds.

“We believe that catalyzing change can happen in a fun way through socially-conscious music, stories about interdependence and by amplifying the voices of children. Human Rights and Nature’s Rights are key issues that Pacha’s Pajamas aims to popularize through the project, a tale of a little girl with big dreams for unity on planet earth. We are thrilled to share Pacha’s message at Green Festival’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, and with all global movements calling for peace, health and justice in the world,” says Ableman.

For a limited time starting on 11/11/11, the promotional EP is available as a free digital download by signing up at http://pachaspajamas.com. The full album is due out Spring 2012.

The BALANCE Edutainment team will be making live appearances to perform the story and songs from Pacha’s Pajamas: A Story Written By Nature throughout the United States this Fall and in Spring 2012. For more information, please visit www.pachaspajamas.com.

After Pacha’s Pajamas reading, join BALANCE partner Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company for a Main Stage musical performance on Saturday at 3:45pm. Then, head to the Ben & Jerry’s Community Action Pavilion at 4:30pm for an interactive workshop exploring social issues through movement, theater games and group building exercises. Come prepared to move your body, speak your truth and act from the heart.

Additional Green Kids’ Zone activities include crafts, stories, music and much more throughout the weekend. Green Festival is an eco-friendly marketplace with over 300 exhibitors, live music and spoken word, yoga and movement classes and cutting edge film screenings. Ten stages and pavilions host more than 125 enthusiastic speakers offering in-depth presentations and short talks on the issues and practices for adults and children of all ages.

Green Festival takes place at the San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center, 635 8th St. at Brannan St.

About BALANCE Edutainment, LLC BALANCE Edutainment, LLC (www.balanceedutainment.com) is an Oakland, Calif.-based company that creates cause-related entertainment products – books, musical CD’s, curricula, mobile apps, and more. Their debut children’s story and hip-hop album Pacha’s Pajamas: A Story Written by Nature are the brainchild of Balance Edutainment Co-Founders Aaron Ableman, musician, and social entrepreneur, Dave Room. The team’s aim with Pacha Pajamas and future products is to educate children and the masses in a fun and entertaining way about important environmental and other social issues. A portion of the proceeds of Balance Edutainment’s sales will be donated to like-minded nonprofit organizations.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts